Presti: Thunder will seek ‘common ground’ with free agent Roberson

and the Thunder couldn’t strike a deal last fall to stay together.

That doesn’t mean that this summer they’ll be apart.

The restricted-free agent small forward last week expressed his interest in returning to Oklahoma City, and on Monday, Thunder general manager said he’s “excited about the fact that (Roberson) is a part of the team.”

If he’s going to remain one, the two parties will have to reach an agreement in July.

“Every indication we’ve had from Dre and from his people, his agent, is that he loves playing here,” Presti said. “And I’ve always said this to everybody before: When the player shows an interest in being here, it really exponentially helps your opportunity to get a contract done, if you would like to.”

In his fourth season, Roberson had “a great year,” Presti said, averaging career highs in points (6.6) and rebounds (5.1) and continuing to emerge as one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders.

His numbers spiked in the playoffs, when he averaged

Sam Presti on Monday wrapped up the 2016-17 Thunder season and looked ahead to the future. Your crash course on what lies ahead for the Thunder heading into the offseason:

Priorities

Beginning July 1, the Thunder and Westbrook can begin negotiations on a “super max” contract under the NBA’s new Designated Player Exception, which could be worth a projected $219 million. When that time comes, Presti said, “we’ll have conversations with him about what that opportunity presents.” The Thunder’s small forward and defensive specialist can receive offer sheets from teams starting on July 1. The Thunder can match any offer, so the organization will have to decide how much it’s willing to commit to Roberson. Oklahoma City was the youngest team to make the NBA playoffs and, Presti said Monday, the third-youngest Thunder team ever. Of the nine players who averaged at least 19 minutes, seven 11.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in the Thunder’s five-game, first-round loss to the Rockets. Roberson played 37 minutes per game as the primary defender on Houston star

Because Roberson is a restricted free agent, the Thunder can match any offer sheet extended to him by another team. He also could sign a new deal with the Thunder without accepting an offer sheet from any other team.

Another team’s offer sheet “decreases the chances” of re-signing a free agent, Presti said.

In the fall, the Thunder and Roberson discussed an extension, and those conversations were “productive and collaborative,” Presti said. They’ll re-engage in discussions this summer with Roberson and his agent.

“We need them to be fair with us,” Presti said. “We have to be fair with them will be 25 or younger when next season begins. “Throughout the roster, I think there’s an opportunity for a lot of guys to improve and get better,” Presti said.

Needs

This could come via acquisition or rotation changes — Presti mentioned the possibility of playing Alex Abrines and Doug McDermott together more — but it needs an upgrade. OKC was last in the league in 3-point percentage.

The Thunder fell apart with Westbrook off the floor in a playoff series loss to the Rockets. Backup point guard is a particular concern. Said Presti, “A lot of people have mentioned that to me in the grocery store and other places.”

Westbrook set an NBA record for usage rate, the percentage of the Thunder’s possessions he used, either via field-goal attempt, free-throw attempt or turnover. “Do we need to reduce the reliance on him?” Presti said. “Absolutely. Is that going to take a little time for us to continue to grow and evolve in that way? Sure.” and try to find a common ground.”

Collison decision

Free agent has spent his entire 13-year career with the Thunder organization, dating back to its days as the Seattle SuperSonics.

But he’ll turn 37 in the fall, an outlier on the NBA’s third-youngest team. And he appeared in just 20 games this season, averaging 6.4 minutes.

So if Collison wants a chance at playing time — and he’s said he wants to keep playing — it logically might have to be somewhere else. Still, Presti didn’t rule out the possibility of Collison’s return to Oklahoma City, saying he had “a very positive conversation” with the 6-foot-10 forward.

“Look, if there’s a way to make that happen on our end of things, we’re going to look to try to make that happen,” Presti said. “That’s just how we feel about him.”

Donovan’s third shot

Last season was an adjustment for who

Contract status

Russell Westbrook (signed through 2018, player option for 2019; $28.5 million next season); Steven Adams (signed through 2021, $22.5 million next season); Victor Oladipo (signed through 2021; $21 million next season); Enes Kanter (signed through 2018, player option for 2019; $18.6 million next season); Alex Abrines (signed through 2019; $5.7 million next season); Kyle Singler (signed through 2019, team option for 2020; $4.6 million next season); Doug McDermott (signed through 2018; $3.3 million next season); Domantas Sabonis (signed through 2018, team options for 2019, 2020; $2.5 million next season); Josh Huestis (signed through 2018, team option for 2019; $1.5 million next season); Jerami Grant (team option for 2018 at $1.5 million).

Semaj Christon (signed through 2019; $1.3 million next season; contract becomes guaranteed if he’s not waived in early July).

Andre Roberson (Thunder spent 21 seasons as a college head coach before he made the jump to the NBA.

This season required some adjusting, too, after

left for the Golden State Warriors in free agency and the Thunder retooled its roster around

“Throughout the season, I think one of the things that was probably unheralded was the job Billy did,” Presti said. “He did an excellent job. I think that’s one of the reasons that we really wanted him to be the coach here, because he’s creative and he studies; he works incredibly hard, and it’s never easy when you have a team change like that.”

But with such a young roster, Presti is hoping some continuity heading into next season will do Donovan some good and let him settle in for his third go-round in the NBA.

“This season I think allows him to plan, allows him to know for the most part the group of the team that is coming back and (allow) him to strategize and implement things maybe he wasn’t able to get to this season,” Presti said. “So we’re excited about that.” can choose to match an offer from any team). Taj Gibson, Nick Collison, Norris Cole (free to sign with any team).

Salary

The Thunder has $107.5 million in guaranteed salary and $27 million in cap holds, which are cap placeholders for prospective signings like Roberson or Taj Gibson. OKC doesn’t have the cap space to sign a highlevel free agent without making moves to shed significant salary. The NBA salary cap in 2017-18 reportedly will $101 million. The Thunder can go over the cap to sign its own free agents, but if its payroll exceeds a tax threshold (projected at about $122 million) at the end of the 2017-18 season, it would be required to pay a tax.

Draft picks

The Thunder has the 21st pick in the first round of the draft. It cannot trade that pick until after it selects a player with it. OKC’s second-round pick belongs to Denver.